Safety razor with a plural strip blade magazine

ABSTRACT

A blade magazine for a safety razor of the so-called ribbon type comprises two elongated blade strips and guide surfaces for passing successive, lengths of each strip from a storage coil to a take-up coil. The guide surfaces further defining the shaving use section of each strip being such that the two blade strips are disposed in parallel planes with their respective cutting edges parallel and in staggered relationship to one another, so that the cutting edges of the two blade strips can both engage the skin to be shaved and will follow one another in tandem relationship during the shaving operation.

United States Patent 1 [111 3,871,075

Pentney Mar. 18, 1975 SAFETY RAZOR WITH A PLURAL STRIP I BLADE MAGAZINE Inventor: Harry Pentney, Spencers Wood near Reading, England The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass.

Filed: Dec. 7, 1973 Appl. No.: 422,730

Assignee:

Int. Cl. B26b 21/26, B26b 21/22 Field of Search 30/40.], 50, 346.5

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l l/l970 Kuhn] 30/3465 Primary E.\'aminerAl Lawrence Smith Assistant ExaminerGary L. Smith [57] ABSTRACT A blade magazine for a safety razor of the so-called ribbon type comprises two elongated blade strips and guide surfaces for passing successive, lengths of each strip from a storage coil to a take-up coil. The guide surfaces further defining the shaving use section of each strip being such that the two blade strips are disposed in parallel planes with their respective cutting edges parallel and in staggered relationship to one another, so that the cutting edges of the two blade strips can both engage the skin to be shaved and will follow one another in tandem relationship during the shaving operation.

10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures A SAFETY RAZOR WITH A PLURAL STRIP BLADE MAGAZINE This invention relates to safety razors of the so-called ribbon type, in which use is made of a blade strip of substantial length, only a small part of which is exposed for use at any one time, the remainder of the strip being wound into storage and take-up coils, the strip being advanced from one coil to the other whenever it is desired to bring a fresh length of the strip into position for use.

In accordance with the present invention (the precise scope of which is defined in the appended claims) two such blade strips are used, the parts of the two strips which are in use at any one time being disposed parallel to one another in staggered relationship so that the two cutting edges can both engage the skin to be shaved and will follow one another in tandem relationship during the shaving operation. A particular feature of the invention consists in the means provided to support those portions of the blade strips which are in position for use and to ensure that they are in the intended relationship to one another and to the other parts of the razor.

The accompanying drawings show a presently preferred form ofthe invention as applied to a tandem ribbon blade cartridge, or replaceable magazine, designed for use in the razor described and illustrated in the specification of British Pat. No. 1,225,060 in place of the single ribbon blade magazine which is described and illustrated in that specification.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the magazine;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front view on anenlarged scale of the magazine with the front cover removed;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the portion shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the magazine; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale taken on the line A-A of FIG. 4.

The magazine illustrated is similar in many respects to the magazine described and illustrated in the abovementioned specification and no detailed description will be given of many of the features of construction and use which are common to the two magazines, the following description being largely confined to those features of the magazine illustrated which are not present in the magazine of the earlier specification.

The magazine illustrated comprises a body indicated generally by the reference numeral 1, enclosed by a shell or front cover 2, these parts being moulded from a suitable plastics material. Two blade strips 3 and 4 are drawn from respective storage coils 5 and 6 disposed side by side within the body. The two blade strips pass in superimposed parallel relation around a guide surface 7 formed at one end of the body and thereafter around a similar guide surface 8 at the opposite end of the body, the substantially straight lengths of the strips which at any moment extend between the curved surfaces 7 and 8 being exposed for use. After passing around surface 8 the strips are wound up together on a take-up reel 9 which is rotatably mounted in the body below the storage coils and is adapted for operative engagement with a blade advancing lever in the razor handle (not shown). Actuation of this lever is effective to rotate reel 9, thereby advancing both blade strips so that fresh lengths of them are brought into position for use between guide surfaces 7 and 8. Reel 9 is connected through step-down gearing to an indicator disc 10 bearing indicia which are exposed through a window 11 in front cover 2 and which serve to indicate the number of useable lengths of the blade strips that have not yet been drawn past the position of use.

The portions of the blade strips which are exposed in position for use lie between a backing surface 12, constituted by the top surface of the body 1, and the forwardly projecting arms of four brackets 13 formed integrally with the body and spaced apart along the exposed lengths of the blade strips. The sharpened front edges of the blade strips project forwardly towards a guard surface 14, also formed integrally on the body, an opening 15 in the body between the guard surface and the cutting edges allowing the escape of shaving debris.

Interposed between the two blade strips is a separator 16, formed by a strip of aluminium or plastics material from 0.008 to 0.025 inch in thickness whose ends extend around the guide surfaces 7 and 8, as most clearly shown in FIG. 2. Disposed above the upper blade strip is a support 17, also formed of aluminium or plastics strip from 0.008 to 0.025 inch in thickness, the ends of this support being located beneath the two outermost brackets 13. Separator 16 and support 17 are each formed with a pair oflugs (one of which is shown at 18 in FIG. 3) which project rearwardly beyond the unsharpened rear edges of the blade strips and are formed with registering holes which engage over a pair of pins 19 projecting upwardly from the body, thereby locating members 16 and 17 against movement in their own planes while leaving them with a limited freedom of movement perpendicular to the planes of those members and of the blade strips.

As best seen in FIG. 5, the separator 16 and support 17 extend forwardly above the blade strips 4 and 3 respectively to within a very short distance of the cutting edges of the blade strips. The blade strips may have a thickness of some 0.0015 inch only (and a width of some 0.2 inch) and it has been found that to provide adequate support for such easily flexible blades they should be supported against the forces encountered in shaving at a distance of not more than about 0.030 inch from their cutting edges. To permit the members 16 and 17 to be placed thus close to the cutting edges without causing interference with the shaving action, the edges of those members are chamfered as indicated at 20. Additionally, the upper part of the front edge of separator 16 is recessed as indicated at 21 to reduce the risk of shaving debris becoming wedged between the separator and the upper blade strip 3. To reduce the frictional resistance to advancing movement of the blade strips, the backing surface 12 of the body and those surfaces of the separator 16 and of the support 17 which engage the blade strips may be formed with Iongitudinally extending grooves.

It will be understood that the particular embodiment of the invention described and illustrated is intended by way of example only and that many modifications of this construction are possible. In particular, the invention is not limited in its application to replaceable magazines or cartridges capable of use with the razor handle described in the above-mentioned earlier specification. Magazines in accordance with the invention can be constructed for use with handles of other kinds, or they may constitute an integral part of complete razors. While the illustrated arrangement of two storage coils disposed side-by-side and above a take-up reel is convenient, especially in magazines intended for use with the handle of our earlier specification, other arrangements are possible and may be employed in razors of other forms. Thus two storage coils and a common take-up reel may be arranged with their axes on the same straight line, which may be either horizontal or vertical and the take-up reel may be disposed either between the storage coils or to one side of them.

What we claim is:

l. A safety razor blade magazine comprising two elongated blade strips, each strip having the portion adjacent one end thereof wound upon itself to form a storage coil, rotatable take-up means to which the other ends of the two blade strips are secured and upon which they can be wound up, means defining paths of travel for the two-strips from the respective storage coils to the take-up means, each of said paths including a section along which a length of the respective blade strip is exposed for shaving use, said path-defining means being such that the said lengths of the two blade strips are disposed in parallel planes with their respective cutting edges parallel and in staggered relationship to one another, so that the cutting edges of the two blade strips can both engage the skin to be shaved and will follow one another in tandem relationship during the shaving operation.

2. A magazine in accordance with claim 1, wherein said path-defining means include a stationary backing surface engaging and supporting one face of the said exposed length of a first one of the blade strips, and a separatorstrip disposed between and parallel to the exposed lengths of the two blade strips and engaging the adjacent faces of those strips, the separator strip being restrained against movement in its ownplane but capable of limited movement perpendicular to that plane and theplanes of the exposed lengths of the blade strips.

3. A magazine in accordance with claim 2, in which the said stationary backing surface has at its ends curved guide surfaces around which the blade strips 5. A magazine in accordance with claim 4 in which the backing surface and the separator strip engage the opposite faces of the said first one of the blade strips to within a distance of not more than 0.030 inch from its cutting edge, the edge of the separator strip adjacent to the cutting edge being so shaped as to lie clear of the surface being shaved when the magazine is in use, and wherein said path-defining means further include a support strip disposed parallel to the backing surface, the exposed lengths of the two blade strips and the separator strip, the support strip engaging the face of the second blade strip which is opposite to that engaged by the separator strip, the support strip being restrained against movement in its own plane but capable of limited movement perpendicular to that plane.

6. A magazine in accordance with claim 2 in which the separator strip has a thickness in the range from 0.008 to 0.025 inch.

7. A magazine in accordance with claim 2 in which the backing surface and the separator strip engage the opposite faces of the said first one of the blade strips to within a distance of not more than 0.030 inchfrom its cutting edge, the edge of the separator strip adjacent to the cutting edge being so shaped as to lie clear of the surface being shaved when the magazine is in use.

8. A magazine in accordance with claim 2 wherein said path-defining means further include a support strip disposed parallel to the backing surface, the exposed lengths of the two blade strips and the separator strip, the support strip engaging the face of the second blade strip which is opposite to that engaged by the separator strip, the support strip being restrained againstmovement in its own plane but capable of limited movement perpendicular to that plane.

9. A magazine in accordance with claim 8, wherein the support strip and the separator strip engage the opposite faces of the second blade strip to within a distance of not more than 0.030 inch from its cutting edge, the edges of the support strip and of the separator strip adjacent to the cutting edge being so shaped as to lie clear of the surface being shaved when the magazine is in use.

10. A magazine in accordance with claim 9 in which the separator. strip and the support strip each has a thickness in the range from 0.008 to 0.025 inch. 

1. A safety razor blade magazine comprising two elongated blade strips, each strip having the portion adjacent one end thereof wound upon itself to form a storage coil, rotatable take-up means to which the other ends of the two blade strips are secured and upon which they can be wound up, means defining paths of travel for the two strips from the respective storage coils to the takeup means, each of said paths including a section along which a length of the respective blade strip is exposed for shaving use, said path-defining means being such that the said lengths of the two blade strips are disposed in parallel planes with their respective cutting edges parallel and in staggered relationship to one another, so that the cutting edges of the two blade strips can both engage the skin to be shaved and will follow one another in tandem relationship during the shaving operation.
 2. A magazine in accordance with claim 1, wherein said path-defining means include a stationary backing surface engaging and supporting one face of the said exposed length of a first one of the blade strips, and a separator strip disposed between and parallel to the exposed lengths of the two blade strips and engaging the adjacent faces of those strips, the separator strip being restrained against movement in its own plane but capable of limited movement perpendicular to that plane and the planes of the exposed lengths of the blade strips.
 3. A magazine in accordance with claim 2, in which the said stationary backing surface has at its ends curved guide surfaces around which the blade strips pass in superimposed relationship and the separator strip includes at its ends curved portions extending around the said curved guide surfaces.
 4. A magazine in accordance with claim 3 in which the separator strip has a thickness in the range from 0.008 to 0.025 inch.
 5. A magazine in accordance with claim 4 in which the backing surface and the separator strip engage the opposite faces of the said first one of the blade strips to within a distance of not more than 0.030 inch from its cutting edge, the edge of the separator strip adjacent to the cutting edge being so shaped as to lie clear of the surface being shaved when the magazine is in use, and wherein said path-defining means further include a support strip disposed parallel to the backing surface, the exposed lengths of the two blade strips and the separator strip, the support strip engaging the face of the second blade strip which is opposite to that engaged by the separator strip, the support strip being restrained against movement in its own plane but capable of limited movement perpendicular to that plane.
 6. A magazine in accordance with claim 2 in which the separator strip has a thickness in the range from 0.008 to 0.025 inch.
 7. A magazine in accordance with claim 2 in which the backing surface and the separator strip engage the opposite faces of the said first one of the blade strips to within a distance of not more than 0.030 inch from its cutting edge, the edge of the separator strip adjacent to the cutting edge being so shaped as to lie clear of the surface being shaved when the magazine is in use.
 8. A magazine in accordance with claim 2 wherein said path-defining means further include a support strip disposed parallel to the backing surface, the exposed lengths of the two blade strips and the separator strip, the support strip engaging the face of the second blade strip which is opposite to that engaged by the separator strip, the support strip being restrained against movEment in its own plane but capable of limited movement perpendicular to that plane.
 9. A magazine in accordance with claim 8, wherein the support strip and the separator strip engage the opposite faces of the second blade strip to within a distance of not more than 0.030 inch from its cutting edge, the edges of the support strip and of the separator strip adjacent to the cutting edge being so shaped as to lie clear of the surface being shaved when the magazine is in use.
 10. A magazine in accordance with claim 9 in which the separator strip and the support strip each has a thickness in the range from 0.008 to 0.025 inch. 